As the country gears for a possible shift to a federal form of government, former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. underscored the important role that media has to play in ensuring that Filipinos make an informed choice on the issue.
Mr. Pimentel, a
member of the consultative committee tasked by President Rodrigo Duterte to
propose changes to the 1987 Constitution, acknowledged that many Filipinos
still do not understand the concept of federalism.
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| Nene Pimentel |
“This is why we need the
media to play its role of educating our people. We need a free media to ensure
that the dissemination of information is not controlled,” he said in his
keynote speech during the 23rd National Press Forum of the Philippine Press
Institute at Hotel Jen in Manila.
Former Commission on
Elections chairman and 1986 Constitutional Convention member Christian Monsod
agreed: “Media has a big role to play, especially in education campaign and in
providing the people with real news, not fake news.”
Mr. Monsod said a free and
vibrant press is crucial in ensuring that developments in the political scene
translate into tangible benefits for all Filipinos.
“The biggest divide in our
country is not culture or identity or territory but the divide between the rich
and the poor...How can we best fulfill the promise of a new social order that
serves the interests of the poor, who are supposed to be the center of our
development?”
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| Christian Monsod |
Mr. Monsod was cautious,
though, of the proposed federal form of government, adding that in this part of
the world, unitary systems such as Japan, South Korea, China and Indonesia)
have proven to be successful models.
“Federalism is a risky,
intricate political experiment that is vulnerable to unintended consequences,”
he said.
Mr. Pimentel, however, maintained
that a federal system under a presidential form of government was meant to
“advance the welfare of the people, speed up their development. and hopefully
dissipate the causes of rebellion in this country.”
In the same vein, but more on
the political and economic aspects, Noel de Luna, founder and chairman of Kusog
Bicolandia, an agenda-based regional political party that is aimed to focus
more on local or domestic interests, “resolved to serve the common interest of
fellow Bicolanos by endeavoring, first of all, to be both self-reliant and
dynamic."
"Can we be an autonomous
state? Can we be part of a progressive unified group of islands called the
Philippine archipelago under a Federalist state?", he addressed the PPI
members during the fellowship dinner.
Erwin Caliba, chief of the
Legal, Legislative and Linkages of the Policy Advisory Office of the Commission
of Human Rights, said the quest for autonomy is also a “mechanism to address
exclusion and enhance the participation of minorities.”
Cheryl Daytec-Yangot, former
Justice assistant secretary and a lecturer on issues concerning Indigenous
Peoples, said all stakeholders, including the media, should move to empower
minorities whose voices are drowned out in the mainstream national discourse.
“Although I am not really
convinced that federalism is the cure, for our indigenous peoples in the
country, it may work,” she said.
Gotz Heinicke, resident
representative of PPI partner Hanns Seidel Foundation, underscored how the lack
of free speech and assembly is “the greatest menace to freedom” today.
“Public discussion is a
political duty...such openness results in better governance and better
communities,” he said.
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